I think what you are describing is odor from curry powder. I guess that is a preference. Some people really like curry. I know many landlords actually reject Indians for thinking they will be cooking curries and getting smell onto furniture or walls. Asian cuisines often require a lot of more intensive cooking than caucasian food with simple sandwishes or methods that don't produce the same strong smells as Asian cuisines.
As for pollution, it is not due to curry or cooking but high numbers of particulate within certain size ranges are contributed by trash burning more than industry. That's how these pollution data are collected and measured anyway. China's heavy industry cities also do very poorly but over time have improved a lot due to adopting new technologies and getting rid of older power stations or factories and replacing with newer ones. Obviously not overnight but a good progress. Twenty years ago Chinese cities would have been topping the top 30 in most polluted along with Indian ones. Even ten years ago would have plenty.